Stop Importing Uyghur Forced Labour Goods

Fundraiser to support the legal challenge to tackle importation of forced Uyghur labour cotton goods from China into UK.

Why we are raising funds

30% of the world’s cotton comes from China and 85% of China’s cotton comes from Xinjiang (Uyghur Region): a province in the far west of the country where the Chinese state is holding over a million people in detention camps and forcing them to work in cotton and textile factories. The factories are often contained within securitized compounds, sometimes even right alongside detention centers, with the workers kept under surveillance night and day by guards. Most of the people being detained and forced to work in this way belong to Turkic Muslim ethnic groups, in particular the Uyghurs, against whom the Chinese government has launched a so-called “People’s War on Terror” to eliminate their culture and gain complete control over them.  

UK consumers are unknowingly connected to these horrific violations: Cotton produced in Xinjiang (Uyghur Region) under these forced conditions is freely imported into the UK and sold by high street clothes retailers. The UK has laws banning companies from importing goods that have been produced in prisons or other kinds of places of detention, but the UK customs authorities are not enforcing them.  GLAN is supporting the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) to bring a legal claim against the UK customs authorities to challenge why they are failing to enforce these laws.  

WUC is a not-for-profit organisation that represents the interests of the Uyghur people and engages in awareness raising and advocacy campaigns about the human rights situation for Uyghurs in China. As a non-profit, WUC has limited funds and will depend on donations to fund the costly litigation in the UK courts despite the detrimental effect of the actions of the UK customs authorities for their people still in the Uyghur Region. 

Why this is so important

Our goal is to secure a ground-breaking judgment from the UK Court which would have profound consequences for the customs authorities in the UK requiring them to take meaningful action and assess whether goods produced using forced labour are entering the UK against the law. In the context of the severe human rights abuses being experienced by the Uyghur people this would send a strong international signal to other states to urgently address their own economic complicity.  Furthermore, would also heighten pressure on the private sector to take meaningful action and end the involvement of their supply chains in these serious human rights violations occurring in China.

What impact your donation will have

 

Our team at GLAN has been at the forefront of developing innovative legal actions that tackle severe and systemic human rights abuses. We are particularly concerned about the complicity of supply chains in driving human rights violations but we also understand the opportunity this presents when it comes to tackling forced labour.  

Donations will allow us to cover essential court and staff costs, translate important documents that underpin the case and pay for the time of legal counsel albeit at a fraction of commercial rates, reflecting the commitment of all those who have agreed to participate in this important endeavour. With enough support we will be empowered to work with WUC and other key partners active on the issue of forced labour in the Uyghur Region in building an advocacy campaign around our legal efforts highlighting the ongoing failure of states like the UK to take action to halt the trade in forced labour goods. Donations will also allow us to  coordinate with and support other litigation efforts on this issue internationally. 

It is essential that we shine a light on the UK’s role in the global trade of goods made through the enslavement and forced labour of the Uyghur people. The UK authorities must be held to account to implement  laws to halt this trade in which ordinary customers are unwittingly being implicated. We cannot do this without your support, please consider making a small donation and share our fundraiser on social media.